PRISONERS : Postscripts

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The most ferocious scene in the movie --

which was improvised by Hugh Jackman when director Villeneuve wanted a harsher scene.

Hugh Jackman delved deeper into his Wolverine persona to give audiences one of the movie's frightening scenes, which on the other hand made them think as the potential Oscar moment for Hugh had the movie been nominated.

Because of his training in dramatic theatre, Hugh could draw on his deep acting reserves to bring about the movie's most controversial and frightening scene - that of a man gone insane in search of a missing daught4er!

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ore ǝɹʇsǝɐW🐍
@maestrerus
Replying to
@juanka_Art
Hugh Jackman demostró en Prisoners que es un actor que no se encasilla y bastante completo. De verdad que se merece el mérito ppr la película.

Translated from Spanish by Google

Hugh Jackman showed in Prisoners that he is an actor who is not pigeonholed and quite complete. He really deserves the credit for the movie.

THere is a growing perception that Hugh Jackman is not just a superhero actor or a musicals performer -- but that he does have range and versatility

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N.B.: Chef’s kiss is a gesture and expression meant to show something is perfect or excellent. The gesture is made by pinching the fingers and thumb of one hand together (often in an OK sign), kissing them, and then tossing them dramatically away from the lips. Its tone can be sincere or ironic.

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Google translation --

🎞️ What a piece of film that is PRISONERS (2013)

It shows you the limits that human beings are capable of crossing to defend their own.

Hugh Jackman and Jake Gyllenhaal are at a very high level of acting, and Villeneuve's direction is perfect like almost everything he does

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Tim Corbin
@thetripleeight
·
1h
Jake Gyllenhaal was the best in Enemy & Prisoners.

Sorry to Hugh Jackman fans but Jake was just on a whole other level in Prisoners.

In reply to the tweet --

JoAB
@joab46466753
·
37m
HughJackman's intepretation of the alpha male Dad whose near-insane behavior when his daughter went missing has drawn much admiration from critics&fans.
Best acting moment though was when he saw her bloodied sock -body started to shake,tears began to swell &grief engulfed him!👏


JoAB
@joab46466753
·
35m
He went deranged when he could not elicit a response from the mentally-incapable Alex (who was also a victim of kidnapping when he was playing as a child) and threatened him with a hammer. That scene is the most electrifying in the movie!


JoAB
@joab46466753
·
33m
Which character is likely going to draw a sequel?
If he were found & rescued, what lay ahead for Keller Dover --
*Found guilty of assault
*Found guilty but given suspended sentence
*Found NOT guilty
The Trial of Keller Dover!


JoAB
@joab46466753
·
7m
But Hugh Jackman is not always an angry man in his movies (even if Wolverine can go dark & violent). Have you seen his other dramatic roles(TheFountain/ThePrestige), his musicals(LesMiserables/GreatestShowman), his dark comedy(BadEducation/RealSteel)& his most recent THE SON?



JoAB
@joab46466753
THE SON(streaming/home video)has HJ portraying central character of Peter.The titular SON, being a son of an uncaring father&the father of an adolescent w/ depression. His acting esp at the end shows how a parent can care so much without fully understanding what was happening🎭👏

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Number 1 on the Netflix GLOBAL film charts!

Maybe the popularity is not just because of the genre and the excellent portrayals...but also because the crime of child kidnapping/disappearance is a universal concern ?

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Antonin Atger
@antoninatger
Mais si on quitte un moment l'Asie, l'un des (le ?) thrillers qui m'a le plus marqué ces dix dernières années, c'est Prisonniers de Denis Villeneuve. Une ambiance pesante, terrible, et je crois le film où Hugh Jackman est le plus flippant

Translated from French by Google:

But if we leave Asia for a moment, one of the (the?) thrillers that has marked me the most over the past ten years is Prisoners by Denis Villeneuve. A heavy, terrible atmosphere, and I believe the film where Hugh Jackman is the scariest

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Prisoners was released 10 years ago!

x.com/G_Reelz/status/1704505985992102177?s=20

Gaius Bolling
@g_Reelz
Happy 10th anniversary to Prisoners! Even though I love what #DenisVilleneuve has done with his sci-fi endeavors, #Prisoners makes me wish he'd return to making films like this! #10thanniversary #FilmTwitter #hughjackman #jakegyllenhaal

movieweb.com
Why Director Denis Villeneuve Should Return to More Intimate Filmmaking
Denis Villeneuve has been focusing on expansive sci-fi films lately, but movies like Prisoners show why he should go back to intimate filmmaking.

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Why Director Denis Villeneuve Should Return to More Intimate Filmmaking

BY
GAIUS BOLLING
PUBLISHED 4 DAYS AGO


Denis Villeneuve has been focusing on expansive sci-fi films lately, but movies like Prisoners show why he should go back to intimate filmmaking.

Hugh Jackman and Paul Dano in PrisonersWarner Bros. Pictures
Denis Villeneuve has proven to be one of the best directors working today. He has a unique vision and has been using it lately to deliver cerebral sci-fi in a way that other filmmakers can't seem to touch right now. From Arrival to Blade Runner 2049 to Dune, Villeneuve continues to impress, but it's a film approaching its ten-year anniversary that might showcase the director at his very best.


Ten years ago, Villeneuve released Prisoners, a harrowing ensemble drama that hits you like a gut punch for its two-and-a-half-hour runtime. The director hasn't returned to films like this since diving deep into sci-fi, but maybe it's time for him to revisit more intimate filmmaking.


Prisoners is directed by Villeneuve from a screenplay penned by Aaron Guzikowski. Starring Hugh Jackman, Jake Gyllenhaal, Viola Davis, Maria Bello, Terrence Howard, and Paul Dano, the film concerns the abduction of two young girls and the subsequent search for the perpetrator by the police. A young man is arrested as a potential suspect but is ultimately released, and this causes the father of one of the girls to turn into a vigilante and take matters into his own hands.

Denis Villeneuve Sets the Tone Early With an Eerily Calm Atmosphere
PrisonersWarners Bros. Pictures

It all begins with how Villeneuve frames the quiet Pennsylvania town that the characters reside in. There is a vastness to it but also an eerie calm that sets the tone for the tragedy that's about to take place. The director sets up the atmosphere as soon as the film begins and, in another smart move, even though there is a score by the late Jóhann Jóhannsson, most of the film's key moments take place with no score or a minimal one.

Villeneuve captures the intimacy of these moments and lets the drama build purely based on the performance of his actors, wisely letting them and the film's script do a lot of the heavy lifting while he sets the scene with the help of chilling cinematography from Roger A. Deakins.





Prisoners is a compelling story that makes the audience question what they would do in a similar situation. Would you trust the system to find your daughters and bring you justice, or would you feel they were moving too slow and start your own investigation? The film gives us two sides to relate to.

Jackman's Keller Dover is a man filled with volcanic rage who doesn't want to wait for the law to make moves. Making things even more frustrating for him, once Dano's Alex Jones is arrested as a suspect and then released, Keller believes this is the man who has his daughter, and he can't understand why he's being let go. Keller represents the desperation a parent might feel as days slip by and your loved one still hasn't been found. He showcases the stakes that most of us might dream of taking against someone we deem guilty.

On the other side is Howard's Franklin Birch. A more passive personality willing to sit by and let the police do what they need to do. He's immediately painted as someone who doesn't necessarily take action, which makes him wonderfully juxtaposed to Keller. Once Keller decides to kidnap Alex and torture him until he reveals where their daughters are, Franklin eventually gets involved, but he's not 100 percent in line with what Keller is doing.

He senses that his friend is in desperate need of answers and begins to question if Keller even believes anymore that Alex knows where their daughters are. This is the power of Guzikowski's script, but it's also how Villeneueve frames all of these moments that make it work. He captures the intensity of his actor's every move, and his camera lingers on every decision they decide to make.

The film also showcases the various forms of grief you might experience in a situation like this. The aforementioned Keller takes matters into his own hands, but his wife is so torn up by the abduction of their daughter that she begins to drown herself in pills because of how helpless she feels.

In the case of Davis' Nancy Birch, once she realizes what Keller and her husband have done with Alex, she becomes a supporter of it because some of their other options have been exhausted. Holding Alex prisoner isn't proof to her that he has their daughters, but he could be the one. In one of the film's most powerful scenes, Nancy tries to appeal to Alex's sympathy by showing him she's a desperate mom looking for her daughter. It's another form of desperation in a very impossible situation.




Villeneuve Delivers a Film With Complex Characters

Then there is Gyllenhaal's Detective Loki, presented like most detectives in a noir story with very little background. We know he's a good detective and dedicated to his work, and for the rest of it, we have to fill in the blanks through his mannerisms, conversations, and the acting choices of Gyllenhaal himself.


The actor makes more of the character than what is written on the page, making him equally compelling as the parents going through the crisis. He also has to wear his detective hat in different ways. He has to look at the Alex angle, but once he goes missing, he also has to look into Keller possibly being involved in his disappearance. In many ways, Loki feels like the audience as we piece together everything while making sense of it. It might not be a part that's as showy as the others, but Gyllenhaal is up to the task of bringing depth to the role.



Villeneuve's best choice in Prisoners is allowing time to build character while exploring complicated psyches for all involved. Inherently, we want to feel for the victims, but once someone like Keller goes too far, the audience begins to question if he's just as bad as the perpetrator who may have kidnapped his daughter. Exploring the fine line between right and wrong in a situation like this becomes the film's most powerful component. You begin to question everything, particularly your own moral compass.


Villeneuve has pulled some strong performances from his actors across his work, but it can be argued that none has been more visceral than what's on display in Prisoners. Jackman, in particular, is a force of nature in this film. He allows himself to be exposed emotionally on screen, and his unchecked anger nearly pops out of every frame.



The first initial scene where Keller tortures Alex has been listed as a highlight by many, but perhaps his strongest moment is a scene with Gyllenhaal's Loki inside his car. Loki has been following Keller because he suspects he has abducted Alex, but once Keller notices him, he begins questioning Loki about following him. The conversation soon becomes an argument, with Jackman declaring that his daughter is wondering every day why her dad hasn't found her yet. It's a powerful scene and a testament to Jackman's emotional vulnerability to the role.

With Prisoners, Villeneuve proved to be an unflinching filmmaker. He presented a story with a very difficult subject matter without having his vision compromised. There is nothing easy about Prisoners. It's a very hard watch, but the director exhibited a strength that he has carried over into future projects. Unfortunately, he hasn't hit us with more viscerally harrowing dramas like this. His sci-fi efforts have shown other facets of his talent, but he definitely has more films like Prisoners in his bones, and it's time he brings them to us once again.